Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Has $1.76 Million Stock Holdings in CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in CME Group were worth $1,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in CME Group by 70.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,427,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $544,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,119 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,283,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,676,000 after buying an additional 537,758 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in CME Group by 21,465.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 485,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,070,000 after buying an additional 483,618 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in CME Group by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,514,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,707,000 after acquiring an additional 380,071 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in CME Group during the 3rd quarter worth $79,692,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CME opened at $229.45 on Tuesday. CME Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $82.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.11.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CME Group Inc. will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $5.80 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.37%.

CME Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen started coverage on CME Group in a report on Thursday, September 26th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $221.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In related news, insider Timothy Francis Mccourt sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.12, for a total transaction of $312,062.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,652,298. This trade represents a 15.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,279.44. This represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.